Russia accuses Slovakia of violating a bilateral agreement by sending fighter jets to Ukraine

Russia’s Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) says that Slovakia took an “unfriendly step” toward Russia and violated its international obligations when it supplied Ukraine with MiG-29 fighter jets.

The agency notes that the agreement, which Russia and Slovakia signed in 1997, precludes either country from unilaterally “supplying a third country with weapons or military equipment […] received or acquired as a result of bilateral military-technical cooperation.”

“We regard Slovakia’s actions as an unfriendly act against the Russian Federation aimed at destroying bilateral relations,” said the FSMTC.

The authorities in Slovakia have not commented on Russia’s accusation.

Slovakia was the first country to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine. Most of Slovakia’s MiG-29 fighter jets were supplied by the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Slovakia received several more from Russia between 1994 and 1996.